The Mw7.2 earthquake in Eastern Turkey on Sunday 23.10.2011, 13:41 local time hit the Eastern Turkey causing more than 600 loss of lives and direct financial losses between $500 and $1.000 million. The insured losses are estimated to be about $100.
In addition to tectonic and strong ground motion specifics of the event, the increasingly important role played by the rapid loss estimates will constitute the topics of the session.
Shortly after the Van earthquake several source parameters were provided by seismic network operators. Moment magnitudes were rather similar, but epicentres differed by more than 25km. No information on uncertainties was provided by the network operators. Loss estimates based on a poor epicentral location can create order of magnitude incorrect results. A key question is therefore: Can seismological services provide error margins for their source parameter of large events?